To think the glamorisation of the NHS isn't helpful

[YeahWhatevver]

My DH is a nurse and I'm getting really fed up with the glamorization of the NHS and Doctors and Nurses.

He's watching the TV, seeing the clapping, the endless stories of NHS saving the nation, the grit and determination of the staff, doubling down to fight off this virus and said last night how he wishes it was like that and him and his friends felt like that.

The truth couldn't be further, my DH and his colleagues are exhausted, under equipped, scared, and in their hearts of hearts don't want to be in a hospital. Who in their right mind would want to go into a virus infected ITU for hours per day and then come back to you wife and kids?

The public need to know how scared and overwhelmed these people are, not how Stacy, 21 from Newcastle has ended her nurse training early to go and join the fight and is one of the thousands of "heroes" grateful to be able to play their part.

I've already seen a marked change in DH's mood, he dreads going to a job that he used to love, I've got no idea what him and his colleagues will be like in another 8 weeks.

DH also a nurse. He finds all the clapping ridiculous and insulting. He works in nursing home where 5 patients have died (only 2 were tested, PHE wouldn't do any more tests after that), 15 are ill, almost all staff off sick so agency going in, 2 staff on ventilators. They've got flimsy halter neck aprons that don't cover their arms, paper masks, no eye protection or visors and short gloves. Totally inadequate. He's absolutely terrified. This nursing home isn't in the news, even the local news.

My DH wants PPE, not clapping. He feels that the whole health service is completely broken but this is not being reflected in the media now. He hates his job and has done for years and his colleagues all feel the same.

We had years of people saying "the NHS is great, we are so lucky, it's free, other countries are so much worst" bladibla... just read the threads about abysmal condition in which women are forced to give birth and people laughing that they are so lucky.

Maybe, just maybe, people will accept that it is not acceptable, no the NHS is not so great and it's high time it gets prioritises! Nobody is saying the staff is bad, but the conditions they have had to work with, and what the patients have had to put up with are not acceptable.

I just saw someone laughing that people were not treated in corridors in the UK, it was an Italy thing. As that happens regularly every year, not sure why the pandemic would magically secure enough facilities when staff hasn't even got the most basic protection they should have.

I don't see why the government couldn't make an ex-gratia payment to each frontline staff member having to deal with corona payments. It should be substantial, £several000's - with a promise that whichever government gets it, NHS is to be properly funded and staff receive appropriate (and appreciative) salaries.

The government will make tax payers pick up the tab for furlough, why not this too? I'd be happy to have that payment added to the 'bill'.

I don't see why that couldn't happen?

I agree having worked in the NHS in a management role briefly I left because of frustration. To be honest and this is going to get me skinned alive, I found the staff lazy, slow, incompetent and with poor communication skills to not only other departments but to patients and families.

Nurses stood at stations talking about their recent trip to Majorca for 25minures whilst patients were buzzing for them. Dr's rolling in 40minutes late hungover. Service staff in the canteen unable to follow simple allergy advice. I'd like to say these were one off events but they were not, they were a daily occurrence.

If the staff in the NHS were made to operate and adhere to the rules of the hospitality sector you would see a change, but they know they sit in a guilded protect job roll and can basically take the piss, and they do.

I don't doubt for a second that they are now under immense pressure in a very dangerous situation, but as are men and women who sign up to defend our nation during war, and people won't even stand for 2 minutes on rememberence Sunday or they choose to be political about a flower. But the same.people are.out there banging a sauspan like a derranged toddler for the NHS.

I'm not a fan of hypocrisy.

The NHS needs gutting and re-building, but it wont happen, and mistakes and piss taking will continue long after this pandemic, and throwing money at it also won't stem the issue of mismanagement and slack attitudes post crisis.

Yeah I know I'll get flamed, but whatever.

I work in the Nhs, not frontline anymore but still keep in contact with many that do and although they are going to work and doing their best most of them just want to be at home with their families. They are tearful, stressed, anxious and exhausted. But what they do have is a tremendous work ethic and sense of purpose and continue to go back in day after day. I'm in awe of them all.

I'm sick of all the talk about the NHS staff. What about those working in the community and in nursing homes. They're taking care of CV+ patients too and putting their lives on the line but they rarely get a mention. They're bottom of the list when it comes to dishing out PPE. It's appalling and insulting.

NHS doesn't look so great next to the healthcare systems in most other European countries. The staff are totally amazing, and they deserve much better working conditions and decent pay for what is a very difficult job no matter what the pay grade is.

Really can't win can we?? The public are aware that it's a difficult job at a difficult time and are trying to show some kind of solidarity.
I agree about all this 'hero' biz tho, suddenly everyone's a hero but I know lots of NHS staff who would jack it in tomorrow if they could and hide at home.

I think glamorisation is the wrong word, it's more appreciation of what they do. Clapping once or twice is fine imo but every week will make it meaningless

I think they are just trying to boost morale TBH .I cannot imagine how hard it must be day after day to go somewhere no one else wants to be !Obviously there should be PPE, more money and so on but people like your DH are just getting some appreciation thats all.In a perfect world they would all earn 100k a year with all School Hols off, and so on but life isnt like that sadly ,so we are all on our doorsteps clapping on
Thursday evenings instead!

I was including them, Etaina, I agree, it's not just poster-nurses that are affected, there are many staff having direct contact with corona patients.

I'm happy to clap, but would be happier if they all got massive pay rises, and subsidised training.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe Fri 10-Apr-20 13:06:41

*I don't see why the government couldn't make an ex-gratia payment to each frontline staff member having to deal with corona payments. It should be substantial, £several000's - with a promise that whichever government gets it, NHS is to be properly funded and staff receive appropriate (and appreciative) salaries.

The government will make tax payers pick up the tab for furlough, why not this too? I'd be happy to have that payment added to the 'bill'.

I don't see why that couldn't happen?*

completely agree.

I agree OP.

Is your DH aware that specialist support lines for NHS staff are being set up? Headspace is one and I'm sure his occy health will be able to link him with more local ones.

I don’t see the NHS being glamourised, from the news reports I see over worked, underpaid, scared people who are doing an amazing job that they have worked hard to achieve. It’s the dedication of these staff that are keeping people alive, nowt to do with glamorisation!!

I have a few friends who are nurses, carers and they are petrified to do the job that they once loved.

With regards to @LyingWitchInTheWardrobe idea, I agree. They’re more than capable of funding the NHS properly.

In another example of the NHS should be grateful there’s this NHS benefits from government debt write off If the government was looking after the NHS properly there wouldn’t have been a £13.4 BILLION debt in the first place. If they’re able to write if it now, they could have stopped it being there to begin with!

So yes, NHS workers, my colleagues, are grateful people are clapping for them, it’s nice to have appreciation but what we all really want is proper funding for the services, for all front line services. Like I said up thread, it’s hyperbole and rhetoric that the government started and the general public are happy to grab onto.

I think it has brought into sharp relief just how much NHS staff of all levels do. I am always taken aback every time I’ve been for hospital appointments just how kind, friendly, helpful and reassuring the staff are despite their shitty pay and working conditions. They’ve been ridden roughshod over for decades by the government and need some concrete rewards in the form of a wage that reflects what they do and the conditions they do it under from the lowest to the highest grades.

I like that there is a public outpouring of appreciation for key workers but more important is adequately paying them and better conditions.

@Etaina - So sorry for what's happened that is absolutely shocking and disgusting - these are the stories that should be in the news - why aren't they? I'm really horrified

The government are asking us to ‘save the NHS’. Every time I hear that I’m thinking ‘No, YOU save the NHS’. They’ve pared everything back to the bone and then have them working without vital PPE and then applaud them for the sacrifice. It’s not acceptable to send staff into wards crammed with infectious patients without it.

@SeperatedSwans So what as "management" did YOU do to try and improve things in your local area? Or do you just slag off clinical staff and then leave?

You talk about catering - you do know loads hospital catering staff are on minimum wage and employed by rip-off service providers (compass, mitie etc) who take loads of money for a shit service and pass on sod all to their staff who have none of the benefits that staff in the NHS had? But hey contracting out is popular with management.

My best friend is an ambulance crew member and while he sort of appreciates the clapping, he's more grateful for the people who bought toilet rolls for him and his colleagues when they couldn't shop for them between shifts, and the people who've sent tea bags and coffee to his workplace and his friends who he knows he can ring 24/7 when he's had a bad day and needs someone to listen.

Another friend manages local community nurse teams and would prefer ear-protecting headbands that stop her teams' ears getting ripped to shreds by the elastic on their masks.

But it's less effort to go out and clap for a few seconds than to do anything practical to support NHS staff.

The opposite of glamorisation, I would have thought. The interviews with exhausted looking staff are a good counterpoint to the hospital soaps which show doctors and nurses so underworked that they can spend all their time being deeply invested in the love lives of their colleagues.

Yanbu.

It's like a new religion.

I still dont get the clapping especially at the actual hpsital

my nearest was on the news last nnight they were standing together outside in a crowd no social distancing all clapping with the public aswell i couldnt belive it no social distancing whatsoever

Completely agree OP. The idealisation of NHS front line workers is often rooted in people's anxiety, we feel vulnerable and its more bearable if there are 'saviours' who can rescue us. Also on some level assuages our collective guilt, over how badly NHS staff are being protected (with lack of PPE).

Totally agree op - it’s propaganda

Nhs is underfunded and as a result not able to provide optimum care at the best of times, despite the efforts of many great staff.

Let alone now...

I know what you mean OP and I've my suspicions of some of the clappers, but I think that this has caused a surge of genuine good will towards the NHS and its workers. I don't know if, when it is all over, it will translate into better funding, but I think it raises the chances and makes it harder for the government to continue with their running the institution down.

I wouldn't say it was glamorisation, but a highlighting of the fact that ordinary workers are doing a crucial job at the moment -- and that's something that our society hasn't really celebrated in a long time.